Academic Education: MBA

Final Phase of the MBA in
International Management Consulting

After almost two years of attending classes, the postgraduate MBA programme in International Management Consulting is entering into its final phase. After having successfully finishing the attendance phase, the rest of the year 2008 will see the execution of researching and writing the master dissertation. In the end of this will stand the achievement of the MBA title – to be expected after the colloquium in the first weeks of 2009.

During the past four semester blocks, a wide spectrum of subjects were covered, all related to the core and supportive competence of management consulting in an international context. The end of this year’s summer semester was marked by two final examinations, and after passing them, the ground is now paved for the academic work of a dissertation.

Acquiring an MBA title requires a lot of resources, in terms of finances, time and personal commitment. In this context, it has proven highly important to maximize the benefits of the course to the own personal ambition and needs. Key success factors for a good MBA programme are amongst others:

• Area of specialisation
  
• Content of the lectures
  
• Quality and variety of lecturers
  
• Reasonable class size
  
• Background and dedication of fellow students
  
• Team work and exercises
  
• Mandatory presence phases
  
• International focus
• Intercultural issues
  
• Professional administration

In my own case, the key learning experiences have certainly come from the personal interaction with reputable lecturers from both the academic and the private sector as well as the intercultural exchange with fellow students from different countries and fields of business. For that reason, I would always prefer and recommend a programme with personal class presence over any distance course.

The topic of the master dissertation is also set now:

“Ethics in Management Consulting:
A Case Study of the German
Management Consulting Market”

While this is certainly a highly controversial issue, it appears to be a fundamental pillar as to the basic understanding of the industry. And I will be looking forward to the see outcome of my research at the end – at this stage I can already tell that they will be very interesting...


Andreas Hauser